


When Our Paths Crossed

by TheGeekySquirrel



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Ace Calls Noodle Babe/Baby, Death Threats, Developing Friendships, First Meetings, Gen, Implied Murder, Male-Female Friendship, Nicknames, Phase Four (Gorillaz), Rewritten From Previous Version, Smoking, cause fuck you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22058845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGeekySquirrel/pseuds/TheGeekySquirrel
Summary: The story of how Noodle met Ace.Rewrite of a fic from last year
Relationships: Ace Copular & Noodle
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	When Our Paths Crossed

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Day Three](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15965396) by [TheGeekySquirrel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGeekySquirrel/pseuds/TheGeekySquirrel). 



To a bystander noticing her through their window, she probably looked kinda shady. Really, how was a young woman dressed in all black and carrying a duffel bag, waiting for something specific  _ not _ shady? She wasn’t sure, but her dad had been the mastermind behind this nonsense. It was a wonder that she’d said yes when he asked her to participate. Maybe she was just bored. Being in a band as big as theirs is great most of the time, but the days can get kind of repetitive after twenty years. The young woman contemplated all of this as she leaned against a streetlamp with a cigarette burning away between her fingers. That is, until a dark-blue minivan pulled up in front of her. 

Noodle dropped the cigarette in the gutter as she pulled herself to her full height.The now freed hand slid naturally into her pocket, stroking the small knife her dad had passed to her as she’d left for this job for comfort. She gripped the handle lightly when the window in front of her rolled down. Light glinted off the black shades the grinning driver wore.

“Ey baby, where can a fella get a can a’ coke around here?”

The guitarist withdrew her hand from her pocket in relief. It was all going according to Murdoc’s plan for once. She jerked her head to the right, “At the Circle K, bubba. There’s a guy named Nick around back.”

The driver nodded and pressed a button in his car. Noodle had to admit that the back seat door’s slow opening was a little hilarious. At least, it was funnier than the large thugs- one sitting across the row from her, one seated behind that row- revealed by the door, a package covered in various stamps and stickers sitting on the lap of the one right in front of her. Both thugs also had their eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, though neither of theirs were as nice-looking as the driver’s. Noodle slipped her hand back in her pocket before climbing in. The duffel bag was placed beneath her feet, a few thousand dollars cushioning her borrowed cuban heels. She waited for the door to close and the car to start moving again to ask any questions. 

“How’d it go?”

The one without the package spoke up, “Good. Ran into a bit of trouble with the previous owner of this thing, but otherwise it was perfect.”

He shuffled as her spoke, incidentally showing off a red stain on his white shirt in the process. The young woman gripped the handle of her blade again. She noticed another red-ish spot on the shoe of the man holding the package, but didn’t spot anything of the sort on the driver’s clothes. At least, from this angle. This was definitely not what Murdoc explained to her when she’d agreed. Fucking bastard bassist. 

“Good. You’ll get your full payments when we reach the place and I receive the keys and the package, as discussed. Our employer has set all three of you up with two rooms for tonight. I’ve already checked in for you and will hand over the keycards upon arrival.”

The one with the package mumbled something under his breath. Noodle leaned forward to give the crook an inquisitive look. “Excuse me, what was that sir?”

He looked her dead in the eye and said in Spanish, “ _ I said we should take all of it from you now, tiny bitch. _ ”

“Mi amigo here means, why should we have to give it to you, huerca,” the other man translated, “Your man is willing to pay a pretty penny for it, I’m betting that’s a discounted price. What’s stopping us from killing you, taking the money, and keeping it for ourselves? You?” Both of the men laughed here. “You’re just a little girl. There’s nothing you could do to stop us.”

Their laughter stopped dead when Noodle lightly slashed the cheek of the one behind her. She pulled another knife- this one a birthday gift from Russel- out of her other pocket to point at the other thug. The car came to a stop suddenly. 

“Does anyone wish to be stabbed? Because the way all of y’all are talking, all of y’all want to be stabbed.”

A green hand gently grabbing her wrist distracted her from the fear in her preys’ eyes. 

“None of us are lookin’ to be stabbed right now, as much shit as those assholes are talkin’. I’m sure them fellas are sorry for doubting you, Miss Noodle. Ain’t that right, boys?” the driver said in a slow, calming voice. He spat the last question out with a bit more venom that seemed to snap both the thugs out of it before they shit their pants. Twin nodding answered the question. The young woman gave both another sharp glare as she shook off the hand and replaced her knives. Everything slowly began moving in the car again. Noodle leaned against the door to watch the strange city streets fall behind them. 

When they arrived at the final rendezvous point, the package was left on the back seat without any further fuss. The two pants-shitters took the duffel bag and the keycards before leaving as quickly as possible. Noodle noticed the driver sticking around. Something akin to happiness blossomed in her thoughts as she turned to look at the nervous-seeming man. 

“Uh, Miss Noodle, I’d like to say real quick, uh, me and my brothers and our friend Buttercup, we’re all really big fans of your band. Youse guys make pretty good music,” he mumbled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. The guitarist gave him her first real smile of the night, “Thanks, and thank you for speaking up earlier too. What’s your name, stud?”

She swore she saw red bubble up on his cheeks as he held up a hand and stuttered back, “Uh, heh, I’m, uh, Ace, Ace Copular. It’s nice to meet you in person, Miss Noodle.”

“Likewise, Ace. You can drop the ‘miss’, by the way,” she said as she shook his hand, “I’m just the guitarist and songwriter for one of the most influential bands of the modern era.”

Ace let out a chuckle. “And you’re so humble about it.” He pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Want one for the road? I dunno where old Muds has gotcha goin’ towards, but I’m sure one of these’ll help keep ya up. I know they helped me while I was waitin’ for those two goons.”

She took the offered cigarette with a grateful reply, “Yeah, thanks. Murdoc wants me to get to LA by tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully this can get me to Vegas at the least. Fuckin’ blows, but I promised the bastard I’d do my best.”

The other rolled his eyes at her story with a groan, “Sounds like the dick. I can’t believe he got you wrapped up in this. Hell, I can’t believe he got  _ me _ to be the getaway driver. I’ve been straight-edge since my brothers an’ I left our hometown, now look at me. Luggin’ a couple’a criminals and transferring stolen goods across state lines. All for someone my old man worked with. Fuckin’ unbelievable.”

Ace offered Noodle a light during his rant, then lit his own cigarette at the end of it. They sat smoking for a few quiet, yet somehow comfortable moments before she spoke up again, “Yeah, Murdoc’s a dick. I mean, last time I worked with him, I ended up in hell. It took me over a year to get out of there, and then I spent the next few years after  _ that _ tracking him to a trash island in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah, I remember that shit. Goddamn, what a shitstorm. All ‘cause Muds can’t  _ not _ fuck shit up for five seconds. Bastard. No wonder he an’ my shit old man got along.”

Noodle turned to really get a good look at her conversation partner. He reminded her of her dad in some ways, but there were enough differences between the two. Ace had these blood-shot eyes that showed over his glasses every so often, and greased-back black locks. Where Murdoc always seemed to be barely holding his body together when he smoked, Ace had this relaxed look to him, like he could’ve floated away on the wind without a single protest. It was fascinating to the young woman. She watched her companion slowly blow smoke out his nose, then he turned to look over at her with a calmer look. 

“So, youse said you were headin’ to LA? That’s actually where I’m goin’ too once I’m done here. Maybe we can meet up sometime once I’m out there, if you’d like that?”

She knew she wanted to. There was just something about this man that went against everything she ever knew of greasy, green criminals; she had to learn more about this guy. Noodle wrote her number on the back of his hand with a metallic silver marker she found in the glovebox before finally driving off into the night. If she smiled like an idiot when her phone screen lit up the dash with a new text from an unknown number five hours later, well, that was no business but her own. 

**Author's Note:**

> What up! It's been a while since I worked on anything in the Gorillaz fandom, so I thought I'd do a rewrite of a one-shot I did for a writing challenge in 2018. I really like how it turned out. The original was one of my favorite one-shots I've done for Gorillaz, so I'm just tickled pink that this one turned out even better. Hope y'all had a great 2019, and that 2020 will be even better! Maybe we'll even get some new art in the new year? A bitch can dream lmao
> 
> If you liked this, please consider leaving a kudos or a comment. I appreciate every single one I get. You can also find me on tumblr (@grlz-babe). Have a great new year and stay safe y'all!


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